Lito on: Recovery

Would you know the song on “QUARANTINE”?

Let’s go back to 1958 and ask Pat Boone to sing the Quarantine song –

“Oh Quarantine – Oh, oh, oh Quarantine”.

Of course, the original song of Pat Boone on that is –

“Oh Bernadine – Oh, oh, oh Bernadine”.

We chose that song of Pat Boone because Quarantine rhymes with Bernardine and because he says “You’re in beautiful shape for the shape you’re in…..”

With the Covid-19, are we all still in good shape?

With Google’s Mobility Trend data, reduction in mobility like -81 in places like restaurants or shopping centers help in reducing Covid-19 cases.

Fine, ok. But how do we get back to normal from the Quarantine?  How do restaurants, malls and public transpo centers recover from the long lost consumer traffic? 

Has the per capita GDP of countries worlwide taken a nosedive to the detriment of their respective standards of living? Have the beneficiaries of remittances from about 10 million OFWs, the earnings from the 1.1 million workers of BPOs – taken a hit?

Are the following simplified and practical steps the way to get out into the New Normal, or at the very least, the Interim Normal?   

1ST is to determine expectations from the consumer side and on the other hand, the business side.  With that, either side can prepare for the continuity of business. Will the consumer expect new products or a new dish? Or will they be disappointed in seeing old stocks and the same taste?  On the business side, will they expect sales to be brisk or slow?  Will the prime strategy be to unload piled-up inventory?

2nd  suggestion is to do in-store promotions more than the usual discounted prices or two items for the price of one. Or special deals for the pharmacy’s loyalty card-bearing customers? We must presume that whether there will be a surge of customers coming back or a slow trickle getting into the market, competition among different brands will be heightened after the lockdown. Will the market be narrowed down to favoring the stores that they missed the most during the lockdown or the restaurant and fastfood chains that they patronized most prior to being quarantined?

 3RD is to ensure excellent service delivery from a friendly attitude, a warm smile to efficient handling of ticketing systems as in the case of public transports. The prevailing psychographics of consumers emanating from a severe lockdown with a great number of casualties worldwide would need a lot of empathy and understanding.  It must be a joy of living as it was before! A fair deal is also all about good service.

Sales personnel should avoid huddling into groups, leaving the customers to fend for themselves.  Now is the best time to accompany the customers as they go through rows and rows of merchandise or to deliver meals ordered promptly.

I guess to come back from this a month and a half of business lockdown – from retail and recreation, to groceries to pharmacies and farmers’ markets and even parks and public beaches – will be a challenge.

Along the way to eventual recovery, so many businesses have failed and closed down, workers lost their jobs and the number of indigents and the marginalized have increased.  A Philippine Senator, Sherwin Gatchalian, estimates PhP1.2 trillion to stimulate the economy.

 Given the dire circumstances, it will really be quite challenging and difficult to return back to normal. As the song goes, let’s get back to the beautiful shape we should be in.